Episodes
Wednesday Jan 28, 2015
Review - Saints Row: Gat out of Hell
Wednesday Jan 28, 2015
Wednesday Jan 28, 2015
Author: Anthony Fallucco
Twitter: @Killroycantkill
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Saints Row has become unrecognizable from its origins. From
humble Grand Theft Auto clone beginnings, it has turned into an insane and over
the top game where you’re flying through space and meeting up with odd
characters through time like Jane Austen and Santa Claus. So obviously going to
Hell was the next step, right? Well that’s what Gat out of Hell is all about.
You play as Johnny Gat, the main characters right hand man. You have to save
your friend (who is also the President of the United States by the way) from
the clutches of Satan. It sounds amazing on paper, especially with the track
record for wacky bullshit that the Saints Row series has going for it. Fun
gameplay is burdened by a lack of content and overall forgettable story. Gat
out of Hell is hard to recommend for even the most hardcore of Saints Row fans.
At the end of During the whole experience of Saints
Row 4 some wild stuff happens, where it allows Volition to pretty much do
whatever they want with the story going forward. While celebrating Kinzie Kensington’s
birthday the crew decides to use a ouija board for some party fun. When asking
who the President will marry out of harmless fun the board starts moving by itself
and the President gets sucked through a portal to hell. This is when Johnny and
Kinzie are both determined to go save their leader. And that is about as
complex at the story gets. It’s also sadly some of funniest sequences and
dialog in the whole game right of the bat, in my opinion. Throughout the game
the story is progressed little by little as Satan gets more pissed off at you
for destroying his stuff, until ultimately you get to the very obvious
conclusion. The simplicity of the story isn’t what bothers me though. Saints
Row 3 and 4 has some of the most interesting story telling in a long while.
They weren’t afraid to go wild but they still kept an interesting fiction that
made me want to keep up with the Saints so to speak. In Gat out of Hell they
throw away the interesting part of the narrative and go purely into wild, but
sadly it’s not even wild enough to compete with some action in the previous
games. You can even switch between Johnny and Kinzie while playing the game,
but all the cutsceens play out as if Johnny did all the work, and neither
persons dialog is funnier than the other, or even worth listening to at most
time.
Some of the funniest dialog and moments come from the people you meet in Hell. You’re going to be partnering up with the likes of Vlad the Impaler, the DeWynter Twins from Saints Row 3 and William Shakespeare himself. They are all fantastic characters and I liked hearing their dialog rather than any of the playable characters. Gat out of Hell also bring back some Characters from Saints Row 1 and 2, along with a ton of obscure references to very specific scenes in those game. You’ll get a lot out of these jokes and side quests if you get the reference or remember those games at all, but if you’ve never played them or those memories have left your brain forever these jokes will fall flat.
Playing the game on the other hand hasn’t really changed from Saints Row 4. You still get the ability to run faster than cars and jump higher than building from the start of the game. But thanks to some demonic powers, you gain fallen angel wings that let you fly. The flying system works like the Epona speed system from Zelda: OoT but instead of carrots your have wing icons, and you lose speed when climbing and gain speed when diving, so it’s a fun little system. But just like how being able to run as supersonic speeds made cars obsolete in Saints Row 4, flying does the same thing by making running as supersonic speeds obsolete. On top of your sweet wings you also get a whole host of demonic themed weapons, which are based on the seven deadly sins, and a couple unique powers. Some examples are a reclining chair that shoots missiles, representing the sin of Sloth, or the power to summon demonic imps to latch onto enemies then explode. The weapons are fun but you’ll find a power and weapon combination that lets you blow up cars and demons most efficiently, and most likely stick with it the whole game.
I also wanted to mention that my time with the game was cut way shorter than I expected it to be. I try not to bring up the length of a game in reviews because length does not equal quality or money well spent. But it was shocking to me when I finished the game and only say 7 hours on the game clock. And when I say finished the game I mean finishing the story, getting all 1000+ collectables, and completing all side missions with max rank. Now I understand that it is a standalone expansion to Saints Row 4 but the quality doesn’t hold a candle to the previous DLC offerings like Enter the Dominatrix or The Saints Save Christmas, so the short length really caught me off guard but it was over so abruptly.
Gat out of Hell, in the end, is painfully average. The fun time I had actually playing the game is nullified by the average story and a lack personality from the playable cast, and side activities leave a lot to be desired. Overall this game isn’t “bad” per say, but I feel it simply exists to be forgotten, and that might be a lot worse for a series that is known for insanely memorable moments.
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